11 posts tagged “dc”

I am sorry I have neglected you, my voxy blog!  I have been very busy, you see, still contracting for the gov't and moving recently, to Arlington (Pentagon City).  And moving to Arlington makes me feel like a traitor to the District lifestyle.  Even though over half the population who claims to live "in DC" actually lives in Virginia or Maryland.

But Nick keeps saying things to me like, "Celebrate Robert E. Lee day for me!"  Since even though DC is technically in the south, Virginia is really in the south.  I can't believe the Au Bon Pain in the Pentagon City fasion centre actually has unsweetened iced tea.  Although, they are even serving sweet tea up in Michigan at McDonalds.  I wonder how well it will actually go over there.

Oh no.  I just had a very bad thought.  What if everyone likes the sweet tea so much and my beloved, unsweetened iced tea drinking state becomes corrupted?!

It would be an excuse not to move back.  More and more I am feeling like DC is actually my home.  It must be working on the Hill--Potomic Fever, alright.

Last weekend my mom came to visit.  She brought along her friend Kate for the ride (she hates driving).  She's never actually been to DC before, and until now that was a bit strange--me living in a city my mom has never even been to.

She came Saturday morning and after a quick munchy sort of breakfast we walked to the Metro and took a stop in the clinic on the way.  I told them, "now that you've seen my apartment, here's the place where I spend most of my time."  It's a different sort of place weekend mornings without rushed and stressed out grad students speed walking from one room to another.

We took the metro to King street in Alexandria and walked down to the Potomac where we picked up a boat tour mom and Kate wanted to go on.  We window shopped along the way.  The boat tour took us down the river and underneath many planes heading to Reagan National Airport and into Georgetown where we got off and took a cab to see the Vietnam memorial.  I kept thinking when I looked at all the names how if the lottery had worked out differently, it would have been my dad's name up there.  Then I wouldn't even exist.  Kate told me about how she went to a huge protest against the war once and the folk group Peter, Paul, and Mary played.  "Have you heard of them?" she asked.
"Yes," I replied.  When I was a kid, every time this recording of the group at a concert played on TV my parents would watch it.  They are ex-hippies.  I'm lucky, really, to have a name like Alli when I could have ended up being "Sunshine" or "Rainbow."

We walked back to my apartment and enjoyed the air-conditioning and the iced tea in my fridge before we headed up to the Kennedy Center for a free show.  I'd remembered hearing about their daily free shows somewhere so I'd looked it up online and saw that an African group was playing from Namibia, and they turned out to be incredibly fun!

Afterwards we taxied to Georgetown and had Italian for dinner, and then desert at a French bakery.  When I got home I was exhausted and I went right to sleep.

They left on Sunday, but we took a walk to the White House first.  Yes, we walked a few blocks to the White House from my apartment.  I think that made it really sink in that I actually am living here in the capital city, my mom coming to visit, and walking to the White House.

I'm here.  We're here.  It still feels very surreal that I'm actually living here in the District and not just on vacation.  I keep thinking that in a while I'll be heading back home to Michigan.  The apartment is still rather messy, for one they discovered right after we moved in that a pipe was leaking.  So there is a hole in the ceiling until they can figure out what to do.  Other than the hole, the apartment is very clean and in excellent condition.  However, there are boxes and odd gadgets like two-sided tape recorders and old pieces of computer hardware that Nick wants to sell lining the hallway.  I hope they will go sooner than later.

Today Nick was at a job interview and I was feeling trapped in the apartment so I took a walk to Georgetown to find a knitting store I saw online.  I'm hoping to join a stitch-and-bitch group here so I can meet people and actually get some knitting done.  The problem is, I'm not knitting anything right now, and I really want to knit this. It was a very long walk, I discovered, and I did not find the store.  Instead I found Barnes and Noble, where I rested for a few minutes and then checked out a place called Paper Source, which I was disappointed to see that it had more paper products than different papers as I'd been hoping before I entered.

On the way I was craving something salty (sweet potato chips, specifically) but on the way back I really wanted an orange cream frappuchino from Starbucks.  I have a love-hate relationship with Starbucks.  I love their drinks, and I hate that they are The New McDonalds.  I passed many, many, many people with Starbucks cups and the further I walked the more tired I became and the more I wanted to yell for someone to just please tell me where I could find one.  I did remember there was a Java City once I passed my building, so I walked over there and was about to go in, even though Java City was what was available on campus as an undergrad and I wasn't quite thrilled with it.  I tried to open the door by the sign, but it was closed so I started walking to another door when I saw the Starbucks!  It reminded me of when Mimi shipped Drew Carey to China and how he burst into song when he saw the McDonalds.  I did not burst into song, but I was very happy with my orange cream. 

Maybe I'll knit the sweater in orange cream if I make it to the yarn store in Arlington.  It looks a little easier to find.

I just finished signing us up for high speed internet in the new apartment.  I don't know why this seems like such a big step.  It's just internet.  But somehow with that, and Nick being home it's suddenly real: we're moving to Washington DC.  We're going to live in a beautiful part of one of the country's most amazing cities, probably less than a mile from the president.

Nick was thinking of inviting the president over for dinner as sort of a neighborly thing.  I thought perhaps we could send the invitation to Laura instead, and have it be for her "and a guest" like they do on formal wedding invitations for single people.  Of course, they would never come, but what if they did?

For one thing, I would cook.  I enjoy making big production dinners every once in a while and I think Nick's chicken-boiled-in-orange-juice is a required taste.  I would probably cook shrimp, because they are brilliantly easy to make.  What else I'm not sure.  We would have wine, or perhaps they would bring some.  What would they bring?  Does the white house have a wine cellar?

Are you still supposed to follow the rule of not talking about politics when you have the president over for dinner?  Saying that I don't exactly agree with his policy is putting it lightly.  I would love to give him an earful.  If he asked about us, would I tell my usual joke about studying Speech-Language Pathology ("I'm gunna learn people how to talk good.")  Or, I could offer my help as far as the pronunciation of certain words.  Maybe he's worried about not being taken seriously because of his accent.

Other things I could ask is how he feels about his father's friendship with Bill Clinton, and does that mean he's going to vote for Hillary?  "She is your father's friend's wife, after all."  Or perhaps he knows if Cheney has been doing any duck hunting lately.  And have any mothers of dead soldiers come to call recently?

Well, I suppose it's for the best that presidents don't make house calls.

Things I have done recently:

1. I observed about 15 hours of speech therapy.  I have to have 25 done before I get to DC so I can work at the clinic at school.  What's amazing is that I'm actually doing this, instead of finding ways to cut corners!  Maybe because there seems to be a real reason for doing all this observation.  This is what I want to do.  However, it feels like I'm working a job with strange hours and no pay.

2. I emailed Kathleen again, finally.  I told her what I was feeling and said that I really wanted to put it aside now.  She called and left a message saying she wanted to talk to me in person.  I'm nervous.

3. I said goodbye to Nick as he's off to Las Vegas + Germany for three weeks, and I become one of those people I used to hate: the one that mopes around missing her significant other.  (He's doing this.  I think he's nuts.)

Things I will be doing:

1. Going camping from tomorrow through Thursday, so don't expect me to write.

Being an adult is hard.  I think I learned that this weekend more than anything.

Friday:

Nick and I went to DC to look for apartments.  The first one we visited we fell in love with right away.  It was a long but not too long walk from the Dupont Circle metro area.  It was a huge one-bedroom with a view like nothing else: a giant fountain.  It was like stepping back in time.  Plus it had laundry and trash disposal on ever floor and you could see various landmarks and monuments from the rooftop deck.  We wanted it!  The only problem was it wouldn't be available for a month after we needed to move in.  So we didn't apply for it then and kept thinking how we could make it work.  I was silently hoping that my friend Betty (who also happened to just move from Michigan to the District) would offer to let me stay at her place, or even better, that we could find a sublet for September.

The next place we saw was horrible, which shocked me because when looking online this one had been my favorite.  The person we were supposed to meet wasn't even there, so the receptionist gave us keys.  We saw two tiny studios that were dirty--one had packing peanuts and other sorts of things on the floor.  I gave the receptionist back the keys and said "we're not interested."

Our third visit was to an apartment I'd just spotted on Cragislist the day before we left.  It was a studio and it was even tinier than the ones at the dirty place.  The manager, although late, was very nice and helpful.  We thought we could live there if we had to.

We spent the evening with a friend of Nick's from Baltimore and some of their mutual acquaintances from the area.  It was at the cheesecake factory, where I devoured my appetizer, ate about two bites of my sandwich, and then polished off a piece of cheesecake.

Saturday:

Nick and I had two appointments but upon calling the first one they told us that all their apartments had been rented out.  So we just went to the last one, which was in Foggy Bottom.  The building had the nicest entrance area and was a block away from my department office and the clinic.  It was a studio which was larger than the other two studios but of course not as big as the one bedroom.  It was more expensive, too, but it was very clean and there were actually two studios available around our move-in date.

Nick and I realized that the last one we saw was the most practical, and nicknamed it "close."  We nicknamed the first one we saw "pretty."  We finally decided that it would be worth it to get pretty and wait the month for something that we would like much more, even if it was further from school and therefore less practical.  That decided, I posted a craigslist ad for a sublet. 

With our appointments for Saturday finished, we met Betty for lunch.  Nick departed after eating and Betty and I walked around and she did agree to let us stay in her apartment.  But I knew I would really hate living in someone else's living room.  Later we all met up with my cousin (who had also coincidently moved to the area much to the delight of our parents) for supper at an interesting little cafe.

Back at the hotel I received a call from a woman looking for a house sitter and someone to take care of her cat.  This was so much better than subletting or being a burden to Betty that it seemed like fate or providence was on our side.

Sunday:

We flew home with plans for renting pretty.

Monday:

It was impossible to finish the application for pretty without my driver's license number, which had gotten lost in DC.  Also, they refused to hold the apartment for us until our application and checks arrived in the mail.  Tuesday I would be getting a new license, so we planned on mailing it in then.

Tuesday:

I had my new license and the application was ready accept for the apartment number.  I called up the apartment, and was informed that the one we wanted (the only one left) was already taken!  I was heartbroken.  After everything was going so well, now this!  My belief in the non-existence of fate or providence was reaffirmed.  I had to tell Nick the bad news.

We had to go for close.  I reminded myself that it was more practical, and I would like having my classes closer than they were as an undergrad in the dorms.  I drove to Nick's that night and we began filling out the online application for close.  The apartment we'd seen was gone, but another similar studio on the first floor with a patio was available. We finished most of the application when the computer crashed!  I couldn't get back to our application and it was late in the evening, so I couldn't find anyone on the phone to help us out.  We had to wait until morning, and the apartment we wanted was no longer showing up as available.

Today:

I called the place right away at nine.  The person seemed to only want me to speak with the person who gave us the tour, so I had to wait for her to call back.  Finally she called back, and explained that the apartment wasn't showing up as available because, since we'd started applying for it, it was being held for us!  I was so happy, but still I was worried that we wouldn't have enough credit.  I finished the application and at the "congratulations" screen, called her back.  She said that the credit and criminal background checks had gone through right away and came back fine!  (Of course, I wasn't worried about criminal background.)  The apartment is ours!

(Finally.)

Nick and I are flying to DC tomorrow morning and we are spending Friday and Saturday looking for apartments.  We need many positive thoughts, because trying to find something decent under $1400 a month for two people in Foggy Bottom for the end of August is right there between "needle in a haystack" and "impossible."

Just because I'm growing up doesn't mean I'm too old for Harry Potter.  I am irked because the final book is coming out Saturday, when I'll be in DC seeing the city and looking at apartments.  Of the last three books, all three of them will have come out wile I'm on vacation.  The fifth one came out when I was in the Upper Penninsula.  The sixth one came out when I was in Washington state.  And now the sixth one when I'm in DC.  I have it reserved in town, but I'm hoping to pick it up at the airport Sunday when I fly out.

Last night Tyler and I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix, while even though I love  Alfonso Cuarón as a director and what he did with The Prisoner of Azkaban.  I was weary about it, because I'd been dissapointed with the Goblet of Fire firm and I really hadn't liked The Order of the Pheonix book that much.  But I loved the movie!  I found myself smiling through the whole thing.  This is why:

Umbridge

The way Imelda Staunton portrayed Dolores Umbridge was beyond incredible.  She was so much more fantastic in her pink outfits and her office with the little kittens in the plates than I ever imagined her!  It makes me want to wear perfect pink outfits after I retire.